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Fellow humans, there are alternatives to being tracked via cell phone! Your neck need not be under anyone's boot! You don't even need to give up any functionali

Fellow humans, there are alternatives to being tracked via cell phone! Your neck need not be under anyone's boot! You don't even need to give up any functionality: Data service: The simplest thing is to buy a prepaid SIM and top it off with cash. The lovely people over at /r/nocontract maintain a big spreadsheet so you can filter by various properties of the available contracts. Another way to go is to pay for a postpaid plan with a virtual credit card (e.g., privacy.com). It won't be linked to your name at the telco, but of course privacy.com knows who you are. Yet a third way to go, which is nascent, is buy an eSIM with crypto. All these methods make you /pseudo/nymous, but obviously you're still identifiable by subscriber number and possibly IMEI, to put aside correlational things like your traffic profile. You can help this problem by routing everything through a VPN. Then you're pseudonymous but the cell carrier knows nothing about you other than that you use a VPN. Pay for the VPN with crypto. Of course now the VPN provider knows your traffic, but you're much more anonymous to them than you are to a telco. You make your choices. Defense in depth. Etc. OS: CalyxOS: https://calyxos.org/ https://calyxos.org/ Privacy-respecting Android distribution that replaces Google spyware with MicroG, so you can have your cake and eat it too. Most everything will work as you're used to, but it does still talk to Google to make that happen. GrapheneOS: https://grapheneos.org/ https://grapheneos.org/ Very much like Calyx, but extra-hardened and with no MicroG. No involvement with Google at all by default. You can use the work profile thinger in Android to set up an environment where you can run unprivileged Play services + whatever crapware you need that requires them. LineageOS: https://lineageos.org/ https://lineageos.org/ The successor to CyanogenMod, will work with many different phones. More privacy and control than stock Android. There are also many others: Sailfish, Replicant, e Hardware: CalyxOS and GrapheneOS run best on Pixel 3, 3a, 3XL, 4, 4a, 4XL, 5, 6, 6a. The path of least resistance is to get one of these phones and run CalyxOS (if there is an app you need to use that needs Google services like Firebase Cloud Messaging...note that many that can use FCM will run fine without), otherwise run GrapheneOS. You can also buy a Librem 5 https://puri.sm/products/librem-5/ https://puri.sm/products/librem-5/ If privacy and security and hacking are really important to you. Or a pinephone: https://www.pine64.org/pinephone/ https://www.pine64.org/pinephone/

gscott 4y ago
AT&T is able to tell when you activate your prepaid phone what other phones are nearby. Drug dealers have been unmasked using this. They thought they did everything right but someone had a normal phone plan near their phone as it was activated and then the pre-paid phones were around those with regular plan phones. Unmasking the whole group. The best way is buy the prepaid phone from a 7/11 type store. Wait 6 months, go to the mountains in an old non-trackable car, leave your normal cellphone behind. Activate the prepaid phone. Put the pre-paid phone in a chip bag. Hand off the phone to the person who is going to use it but they put their phone in a chip bag before using the pre-paid one. Always protect your normal phone so it doesn't unmask your "secure" phone.
- lettergram 4y ago
  The level of effort to do that is insane lol Then the first time you talk, your voice unmasks you. I’d you have a phone near by or any microphone or camera you can theoretically be identified.
  - kornhole 4y ago
    Never make voice calls with the SIM phone number. Only use the SIM for data when needed and away from your house. Always use VOIP, Signal, Jitsi, Jami..
- Spooky23 4y ago
  That sounds like “the Wire”. The cops figured it out on the show, cops watch the show, and I’m sure that’s probably a well-worn path.
- NoImmatureAdHom 4y ago
  Do you have a cite or know the specific technology? If they do this using 4G it wouldn't be too accurate. Are they somehow turning on Bluetooth or something?

gscott 4y ago

AT&T is able to tell when you activate your prepaid phone what other phones are nearby. Drug dealers have been unmasked using this. They thought they did everything right but someone had a normal phone plan near their phone as it was activated and then the pre-paid phones were around those with regular plan phones. Unmasking the whole group. The best way is buy the prepaid phone from a 7/11 type store. Wait 6 months, go to the mountains in an old non-trackable car, leave your normal cellphone behind. Activate the prepaid phone. Put the pre-paid phone in a chip bag. Hand off the phone to the person who is going to use it but they put their phone in a chip bag before using the pre-paid one. Always protect your normal phone so it doesn't unmask your "secure" phone.

lettergram 4y ago
The level of effort to do that is insane lol Then the first time you talk, your voice unmasks you. I’d you have a phone near by or any microphone or camera you can theoretically be identified.
- kornhole 4y ago
  Never make voice calls with the SIM phone number. Only use the SIM for data when needed and away from your house. Always use VOIP, Signal, Jitsi, Jami..
Spooky23 4y ago
That sounds like “the Wire”. The cops figured it out on the show, cops watch the show, and I’m sure that’s probably a well-worn path.
NoImmatureAdHom 4y ago
Do you have a cite or know the specific technology? If they do this using 4G it wouldn't be too accurate. Are they somehow turning on Bluetooth or something?